The Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand (IBANZ) has called for the government to set up a central, publicly accessible register of properties carrying Section 72 notices.
The call lands amid a broader push across the sector for better hazard data. The Climate Change Commission's 2026 National Climate Change Risk Assessment found approximately 556,000 properties are in areas at risk from inland flooding, with a collective replacement value of $235 billion, and noted that since 2010, 97% of government spending on natural hazards has gone to response and recovery, against 3% for risk reduction.
The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) has separately built its own aggregated data platform, Te Pou Inihua, intended to provide a trusted, aggregated view of insurance information to support risk assessment, planning, and regulatory decisions across the sector. A property-level Section 72 register would sit within that same effort to consolidate hazard information rather than as a standalone initiative. As of publication, no government agency or council body has issued a public response to IBANZ’s proposal, leaving open whether it will progress beyond an advocacy position.
A Section 72 notice can be attached to a property’s title under the Building Act 2004 when a council grants a building consent on land it considers exposed to a natural hazard such as flooding, erosion, landslips, or coastal inundation. Under NHC Toka Tū Ake’s published guidance, the commission assesses claims involving a notice case by case: if a claim is made for damage caused by the same type of hazard specified in a Section 72 notice, NHC can decide to limit or decline that claim, whereas a claim for damage from a different hazard than the one named in the notice follows the normal process and may be met in full.
IBANZ chief executive Katherine Wilson said the broader implications for cover are not widely understood. “If a property has a Section 72 notice on the LIM report, the Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) can limit or decline claims for damage caused by that hazard. And there can also be a flow on impact for the homeowners’ private insurance,” Wilson said.
That flow-on effect stems from how NHC cover is structured. The commission’s terms confirm the building cover cap is generally $300,000 plus GST per event, with anything above that funded through the homeowner’s private insurance policy. In practice, a private insurer typically will not pay its portion of a claim until NHC has settled its own share, which is why Wilson said a Section 72 notice can interrupt that sequence. “As private insurers usually top up the cover above the NHC cap, many private insurance policies will only pay out once NHC accepts its portion of the claim, potentially leaving homeowners uninsured for the specified natural hazard risk,” she said.
IBANZ said the number of affected properties is likely to grow as councils identify more hazards through plan changes, since a notice can be triggered whenever an owner applies for a building consent on hazard-prone land. Owners must currently pay a fee to their local council to find out whether a notice applies to their title. Wilson said this timing often catches owners off guard. “It’s not unusual for a homeowner to only discover a Section 72 when they want to sell the property or make an insurance claim," she said.
IBANZ said the register call forms part of a wider reset of its advocacy priorities, alongside natural hazard readiness, the cost and availability of insurance, and the standard of broking advice. “IBANZ is advocating for government to create a centralised, freely available register of properties with Section 72 notice to increase transparency and improve access to information. We also believe there is a need for a public education campaign to support awareness and understanding,” Wilson said.
For brokers, the practical implication does not depend on whether a register is eventually built: checking a client’s LIM report for a Section 72 notice before placing or renewing cover on hazard-prone property remains the only way to confirm the risk before a claim is made. IBANZ represents 90 corporate members employing about 5,000 people, around half of them qualified financial advisers.
